November 10, 2015

October Books

We can start this out by saying that nothing really blew me away when it came to reading in October. I hate disappointing book months. I don't really have anything that I recommend here. No amazing characters, no brilliant plot lines, no mystery, intrigue, or ah-ha moments. In other words, these books were no binge-worthy t.v. show. If anything, I'd recommend Jane the Virgin on Netflix in place of any of these books.

I really wanted to love this book. I did not. Interesting subject matter, kind of a unique point of view, etc...it had a few things going for it. I found it to be very scattered. The narrator kept jumping back and forth between the past and the present and throwing in new characters...it got to be confusing. The biggest drawback was that (this was the audiobook) the narrator's tone didn't change whether she was talking about her friends, her past as a spy, the Nazis watching over her, or just thinking out loud. I found that she was talking about her time in torture in the same voice you'd use having a conversation at afternoon tea. Also, I could not put my finger on exactly how old our main character was. She had to have been 20 (maybe?) but she spoke and wrote like she was 14. I was more or less distracted from beginning to end with such preoccupations.
Also, I did not get the ending. At some point, I had apparently just started tuning it out and had to google "plot twist in code name verity" to find out what actually happened at the end.

I had originally started reading the print version and the first couple of chapters weren't bad at all. Then I downloaded the audiobook thinking it'd totally hold my attention, but it didn't. And honestly, I'm still not sure what happened at the end. Books are so subjective though. I hated All the Light We Cannot See and I might be the only one in the world who did. So you might as well read Verity and not take my word for it.

#63 Jackaby by William RitterC+
This was recommended as part of the Literary Ladies Book Club and though I never put timelines on myself (because I will fail), I decided to check this one out. I read it on the Kindle app and the library snatched it back once and I renewed and finished it the next day.
This was a supernatural-ish detective story. Also, I kept picturing Johnny Depp as Jackaby. Like, the Johnny Depp version of Ichabod Crane. That's how I saw Jackaby. I don't really know who I thought of as Abigail.
It was okay. I didn't love it. It lacked some sort of magic hook that would keep me coming back for more. I'd watch the movie if there ever was one. There's another book in this series, so I could see it easily becoming a t.v. show too. There's also a novella if you really like the first book.

Gosh, I love Sophie Kinsella. Her early stuff was, of course, the best stuff though. I wonder if she'll find that Becky Bloomwood magic again. Finding Audrey is a young adult book about a 14 year old girl struggling with an anxiety disorder. Parts of it are meant to be humorous and, listening to the audiobook, I did find myself laughing out loud. If you're a fan of Kinsella, it's probably worth a read. Otherwise, it's excellent for a teenager. There's a little bit of language, but it does take place in England. They're more flexible about that stuff, right?

#65 After You by Jojo MoyesC
I wasn't a huge fan of Me Before You. It was terribly depressing, to be honest. If you go to the beginning of this book, you can see there was no Louisa before Will and there's no specific Louisa after Will. It's the same boring Louisa from the beginning of book one to the beginning of book two. However, I always had hope for Louisa at the end of that first story. When I saw there was a sequel, I wanted to know what had become of her...It was too tempting. I had to find out. It wasn't an awful book. It wasn't a great book. It was just kinda meh to me. So was Me Before You though. I also don't like the blurb that goes with the book: "...after an extraordinary accident..." Not really. Plus, all the characters were kind of dull and lifeless. Moyes gave Louisa's family shape in the first book and now they were really just there. I mean, it wasn't awful. But I wouldn't recommend it unless you loved Me Before You.

#66 Pretty Girls by Karin SlaughterD
It was okay. I forced myself to read 10% every night. It was just...meh. And I couldn't finish it. I didn't like any of the characters. It was very one-dimensional to me. I liked the first couple of chapters, thinking I was maybe getting into another The Girl on the Train or something. It was not like that. I lost interest pretty quickly. Apparently Slaughter has some other really good books out there. This was just like a bad movie to me.

Books should pull you in and make you not want to stop. You should be able to read them in 2-3 days or you shouldn't want to stop listening. This month was not good for books. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong. I'm choosing from bestseller lists...I'm looking at blogger recommendations...Audible/Amazon is recommending stuff for me. It's not working.

I'm sad over your review of Me After You. I'm still going to read it but I think maybe because I don't have high expectations for it, it'll be okay. After the grand disappointment that was The Rosie Effect, I'm cautious going into books with a part 2.

aw man, I am so sad that your main gripe was the narrator because i just thought she was absolutely amazing, one of the best narrators i have ever listened to. just goes to show, different strokes and all that.I enjoyed After You, but not really as a sequel to Me After You (which I loved). It was kind of pointless as a sequel, but if I looked at it as standing alone, I enjoyed it. I get into funks where I just seem to pick up bad book after bad book after bad book, honestly, that's when I know I need to take a couple weeks off, you know? I hope you have better luck this month.

I love Sophie Kinsella, so I'm interested to see how her first book writing about a young adult is. I read Jackaby for the Literary Ladies Book Club this month, and I ended up really liking it. I could totally see Johnny Depp playing the character of Jackaby because he's just out there enough!

Pretty Girls is on my list since it has gotten so much praise but good to know it might be a little overblown (a la The Girl on the Train). I'm only two eps into Jane the Virgin and I want to watch more. I considered watching it over reading last night but went with a book instead :)

Oh no. I'm one that recommended Pretty Girls. I'm a big fan of Karin Slaughter, so now I wonder if my fangirling influenced my thoughts. I try not to be that way. I'm feeling this way about the book I'm currently reading. Maybe karma is getting me back.

Ugh, bad reading months are the worst! I read a couple of blah books recently as well (including one that was beyond bad), so I can definitely relate.

It's a shame that you didn't like several of these, though. Pretty Girls, Code Name Verity, and several Jojo Moyes books are on my "To Read" list. Hopefully I'll have a different experience when I get to them.

Bummer to hear that about the Jojo Moyes book. I did really like Me Before You but I think since I've heard so many "meh" reviews about the sequel I'm just going to have to pretend I never heard of it :)

I heard good things about "verity" so I'm bummed you didn't like it. Same with the Jojo Moyes books. Guess it just shows that everyone has different tastes. I haven't read an amazing book lately, but still will always recommend Wonder, The Martian, Ready Player One, and Michael Crichton to everyone LOL.